Miracle
by Metope
Summary: Prompt: Regina is pregnant with Daniel's baby and no one knows (not even her) until she goes into labor. Oneshot


**Miracle **

_Prompt for narnialuver: Regina is pregnant with Daniel's baby and no one knows (not even her) until she goes into labor._

"I'm home." She sighed. She was so tired she didn't even bother to properly hang up her coat, draping it over the hat stand instead.

Daniel emerged from the living room, newspaper still in his hand as he walked up to her to give her a kiss. "You just sit down, let me warm up the leftovers from yesterday for you."

She smiled gratefully at him before moving towards the dining room, kicking her heels out in the process. "Is Henry asleep already?"

"Yes." Daniel called from the kitchen. "Of course he is, it is nine thirty already."

She gasped, she hadn't realised it was that late already, she said as much when Daniel returned with a plate filled with spaghetti. "Cheese?" He asked, holding a bowl with cheese in his other hand, but she shook her head.

"No, lately cheese made me feel sick." She complained. "Besides, I should...I should maybe watch what I eat a bit better, I feel like my waist-line is disappearing." As if the universe wanted to express its agreement one of the buttons of her tight fitting blouse jumped open as soon as she leaned back against the chair. "See!?" She exclaimed indignantly.

Daniel chuckled, softly cupping her cheeks in his hand as he sat next to her. "You are beautiful as you are, sweetheart. Even if you would way so much that we would have to transport you on wheels I would still love you."

With a huff Regina took a bite of spaghetti. "But you do think I'm too heavy then." She pouted once she had swallowed.

A flash of fear crossed her husband's face at the question as he knew he was walking on very thin ice right now. One wrong move and he would be sleeping on the couch tonight. "I think..." he started carefully. "– that you should maybe try to change your rhythm a bit. Eat at regular hours, preferable before it is nine o'clock, and not come home from work so late. I have barely seen you in daylight lately. You leave for the office before the sun is out in the morning and you come home when it has been dark long since. That's not healthy, Regina. And your body reacts to that, either you lose weight or you gain some, well apparently you gained some."

Finishing with those last words were a bad mistake, he realised it as soon as he had said it, and he saw how her eyes darkened. "Well I'm sorry, dear. But being the mayor of a magical town requires a lot of work, maybe you wouldn't understand as all you do is tend to horses, but if I don't take my job seriously this town will collapse and then there won't any horses for you to tend to at all." She snapped, followed by another large bite of her food.

She closed her eyes as she enjoyed the flavours. The rest of her meal she ate in silence, with Daniel sitting next to her. He didn't know what to say, for he was quite sure _everything_ he would say right now would be wrong. Lately she had been terribly tensed, going from boiling mad to a sobbing mess in mere seconds. But he did love her, and he didn't want to let her alone and leave for bed on such a negative note, and so he just sat there.

She sighed when she was finished eating. "I'm sorry, honey. It's just – I was hungry, and work was terribly hectic today."

He smiled at her, before leaning in to give her a loving kiss. "That's okay, sweetheart. I know how hard you work. I'm just worried about you. This isn't healthy."

She sent him an apologetic smile. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Promise me to take it a bit easier in the upcoming weeks?"

She frowned. "The spring festival is coming up. It's always hectic then...but – " she added when she saw his stern look. "I promise I will take it down a bit after that. Can you live with that?"

He sighed. "It's a start, I guess."

She cupped his face while softly pressing her lips against his in response. "Let's go upstairs. I'm tired, I want to sleep and I want the man I love to hold me."

She didn't have to tell him that twice, and it wasn't long before the petite brunette was sound asleep in his arms.

He woke up in the dead of night by a pained moan that reached his ears. As he opened his eyes he found Regina had removed herself from his arms and was now lying curled up on her side of the bed with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Her face was contorted in pain as she was exhaling explicitly in what was probably an attempt to breathe through whatever pain she was feeling.

"Regina, honey, what's going on?" He asked worriedly sitting upright and flicking on the lamp on the night stand.

"I don't know." she whimpered. "I'm in pain."

"Maybe you have food poisoning?" Daniel tried, but Regina shook her head. "I'm not nauseous. There is just so much pai – " She didn't get to finish her phrase as her last word was being deformed into a pained scream.

That got Daniel alarmed. "I am taking you to the hospital." He said.

"No. No wait." Regina called for him, turning on her back so she could see where he was going. "I think the pain has subsided again already." But she hadn't even said that or another wave of pain hit her body and she curled up even more into herself, moaning in pain.

Henry, alarmed by the noises he heard, bolted into his mother's bedroom and quickly walked to Regina's side of the bed when he saw his mom lying on the bed like that. "Mom, what's going on, are you okay?" He asked worried.

But Regina did not answer, her mind completely blocking out her surroundings as she tried to breathe through the agonizing pain.

"Henry. Please call Emma and tell her to come over. Wait for her to arrive here and then go with her. I am taking your mother to the hospital."

The boy nodded obediently, his eyes wide with fear and his skin pale as he had never seen his mother, his strong, confident mother who was never sick, like this.

Within seconds Daniel had put on jeans and a shirt, before he grabbed a dressing-gown for Regina and helped her in it. Once that was done he grabbed his car keys and scooped the brunette up into his arms, not even bothering to put on shoes, thus walking down the stairs and to the car on his slippers instead.

Regina barely noticed they were moving as Daniel drove them to the hospital. Maybe that was a good thing, as he was breaking every speed limit and ignoring every stop sign there was. With the engine still half running he opened the passenger's door and lifted Regina out of the car before rushing into the hospital.

"I need help!" He called. "My wife! She is in pain, I don't know what is wrong with her." And as if she wanted to add some dramatic effect Regina let out an agonizing scream as the pain became more and more intense.

A group of nurses immediately came rushing towards the two with a hospital bed, accompanied by doctor Whale.

"What happened?" The latter asked, beckoning Daniel to walk along with them as they started to move Regina to an examination room.

"I don't know. Tonight nothing seemed to be wrong, she was just tired. We went to sleep and next thing I know I wake up by Regina whimpering in pain. Her stomach hurts, but she doesn't think it is a stomach flu as she says she isn't nauseous. Please, you have to help her, the pain seems to get worse every minute."

Whale nodded reassuringly. "We will do everything to find out what is going on Mister Halliwell, don't you worry. I need you to wait here now, I will keep you updated as soon as we know something."

Daniel nodded and sat down defeated on a chair as he watched Whale leave behind the double doors. "Get me an ultrasound!" He heard him calling to one of the nurses. "She might have an appendicitis." As soon as the doors closed again Daniel was closed off from both Regina's pained screams and the voice of the doctor, and the waiting began.

About five minutes later Snow entered the hospital. As soon as she saw Daniel she rushed over to him. "Daniel, I heard from Emma that you were here. What happened? Henry is completely hysterical. Where is Regina? Is everything okay?" She rambled all at once.

Daniel shook his head, his face contorted in pain and worry. "I don't know Snow. I woke up by Regina's pained screams, her stomach is hurting, and that's all I know. It seemed to get worse and worse. Whale just took her for examination."

"Oh Daniel. I'm so sorry." Snow breathed as she went to sit down next to him, resting her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Upon Daniel's return thanks to Whale's succeeded resurrection Regina and Snow had been able to reconcile, which had led to the tentative start of getting reacquainted again. They weren't friends yet, but that was mostly so in formality, as neither of them wanted to jinx the matter.

"I'm sure everything will be alright eventually." Snow said optimistically. "Whale is the best, you know that. He will find out what is wrong and fix it. Don't you worry."

And so they waited. Five minutes became ten, ten minutes became twenty, twenty become thirty, until finally the double doors burst open and Whale exited the room accompanied by the sound of loud wailing.

Daniel and Snow got up from the chairs as one man, Whale had a bright smile plastered on his face, but it did nothing to ease either one of them, they wouldn't be calmed down before the doctor would tell them what was going on with Regina.

"Congratulations, Daniel." Whale greeted him. "You are the father of a healthy baby girl."

In lack of a reaction by Daniel, Snow worded his exact thoughts when she blurted "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Whale chuckled. "It turned out that Regina was pregnant, she has been pregnant for nine months to be precise. However no one, not even Regina knew that was the case. Earlier today her contractions must have started, but seeing as she did not think she were pregnant she never identified it as such."

"But – " Daniel stammered. "that's impossible. We didn't even _know_ and...shouldn't we have _noticed_..I- "

"It is rare, but not uncommon that this happens." The blonde doctor said. "Knowing our mayor as the workaholic that she is, she probably never consciously realised she missed her cycles. It is her first pregnancy and not all women get as big as the stereotypical pregnant woman is imagined. On top of that the baby is rather small, which is why I would like to keep her here for a few more days to make sure everything is alright."

Daniel slowly nodded, he did hear what Whale said, but he couldn't really process any of it yet. "Can – Can I see her? _Them_?"

Whale nodded. "Only one visitor at a time though."

"Go." Snow smiled. "I will call Emma to fill her in and tell her to come to the hospital with Henry. I don't think he is asleep yet, seeing as he was quite upset over what happened."

Daniel nodded, only half registering what Snow was saying as he started to make his way to the room Regina was in. As soon as he barged through the doors and saw his wife with in her arms a small pink bundle – that had now halted its excessive crying from earlier – reality came crashing down on him.

"It's _true_." He breathed. Regina looked up at the noise, she looked slightly pale and her eyes stood tired, but the brightest of smiles was plastered on her face. "Isn't it a miracle." She whispered.

He nodded, not moving at all until Regina's free hand reaching out to him snapped him out of it. A gasp left his lips as he stood next to the bed and hovered over the bundle Regina held in her arms. A bundle that was his now sleeping baby daughter, a patch of light blonde hair on her head. And as if she knew her daddy was looking at her she suddenly blinked her eyes open for only a second, but it was long enough to see the dark brown orbs staring up at them.

"She is absolutely _beautiful_." He breathed, his voice strangled by emotion. "I love you, _so much_, Regina." He whispered and to emphasize his words he brushed his hand through her hair before cupping her cheek and pressing a kiss in her hair.

Regina laughed. "What shall we name her?"

"How about...Gwyneth?" Daniel asked. "It means miracle."

Regina nodded. "I liked that." She spoke softly as the baby gurgled. "For she truly is our little miracle."

**There you go If you want me to write anything, just sent me a DM !**

**x**

**Metope**


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